Probably the biggest enemies to most causes are the extremists who care about that cause the most, and a naively polarized public that can't see the variations of a belief but only the opposing ends. Extremists are the ones who aren't satisfied with baby-steps towards a goal, but rather they advocate extreme solutions that represent serious modifications to the lifestyle that our society enjoys: Every solution is all or nothing. While their motivations are innocent, it is sad to see the real effect they often have which is usually the opposite of what they intend. More often than not they polarize someone who is in the middle ground to the opposing end because they see the "movement" (and any associated beliefs) as a threat to their lifestyle, and they thenceforth categorize anyone advocating any of the same values as being an extremist. For example one would think that every single one of us would be an "environmentalist" given that it's pretty obvious that most of us don't like cancerous lumps or asthmatic children as a result of irresponsible environmental debt (which always costs us billions down the road anyways), yet instead that term is saved for extremists that want mankind to return to a Luddite pre-technology society, and if someone questions if it's a good idea to let a factory dump mercury into a river they're seen as no different than the guy who wants to tear up the interstates and go back to horse travel. This is the result of a general populace that is polarized into seeing any initiative towards conservation, environmental responsibility, or animal welfare as an extreme alteration of their lifestyle: Either you're an animal lover tree hugging fanatic looking at rocking everyone's boat, or you're a butchering pig killing menace thirsting for the taste of blood. Personally while I'm still a meat eater, and may be for life, I do try to buy eggs from free-range grain-fed chickens, and I've eliminated pork/bacon/ham ("Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.") entirely from my diet (which naturally encourages more vegetables in my diet, and anyways pigs are very intelligent animals). No I'm not preaching (or gloating), but rather this is segueing into something: It astounds me how offended many people are hearing me ask for no bacon on a Caesar salad, or no beef on my nachos. People see this as an affront and offence to their lifestyle. Somehow I am undermining their values and soon they'll sit in prison for their heinous meat eating crimes if they don't nip this in the bud, or so their belief seems to go. This sort of situation was seen on the popular show Survivor II recently with Kimmi being severely disliked because she didn't eat meat with the tribe (well apart from the whole yapping thing). This sort of extremism in beliefs is very detrimental for society as it encourages incredible biases in people's perspectives, and it causes us to form factions rather than moving forward and evolving as a society. For example some of us might think that it is criminal that millions of cats each year are murdered (the friendly word is "put to sleep" or "destroyed") because they can't find homes yet at the same time others are busy breeding cats, but if you mention that paradox and how absurd it seems you are instantly a dreaded animal rights advocate worthy of the sort of attack doled out by polarizing sites like http://www.felinerescue.net/Animal_rights.htm (I especially love the Hitler association: If you believe in any form of animal rights therefore you must be like Hitler!). Wow, talk about a complete digression from what I intended to talk about (saving energy). However there you have it.
Many of us pay for our electricity based upon our usage (by some people's definitions sort of "micropayments "). While it doesn't lead to us punching up numbers on a calculator when we turn a light on or listen to the radio, it does make us a little more conservative than we would be if we didn't see its direct impact. From my personal perspective I can say that when I lived in an apartment and electricity was "inclusive" I had far less regard for the whole idea of conservation: 300W halogens blaring away 24 hours a day. If it got a little stuffy during the middle of the winter I'd crack open a window or two. When I washed a load of clothes it was on super hot, and when I shaved I'd turn the water on high and let it run for the occasional time that I'd use it. Let's just say this was my retribution for the teachers who in public school pounded into our heads that by the mid 80s we'd be out of oil and shortly thereafter every other natural resource: I was actually afraid that the sun was going to run out of fuel and shutdown. Again relating to extremists this alarmist type scare-mongering led me to, after learning that it was ridiculous propaganda, move to the opposing end of endless energy and resources, and it gave me a cynical view of any sort of conservation or environmental concern. Then I got into a place where there's an actual meter monitoring the natural gas we burn, the electricity we consume, and the water we waste (more precisely the electricity and material we waste having the water drawn from the lake, filtered, and pushed to our house, and then back to the sewage treatment). These sort of metrics gave me a whole different mindset, and coupled with a much more reasonable perspective on energy, the environment, and the need for conservation I started making some changes. This "rant" is my way of sharing a couple of brutally obvious, but possibly helpful, ways that we've cut back on our usage. In reality some of these things, such as energy saving bulbs, may merely break even (because the bulbs are more expensive), but to me if I can break even and know that a little less coal was burned that seems like a great compromise.